The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-01-06
Sunday-Sohooi Lessons.
CHRISTLY WORK.

Hsw the Humblest Toiicr May Raise His
Lsbors Above the Indignity Of Mere
Ws9e-Workers.
Do you ask what I mean when speak
Of living selfishlyp I mean, so living
that our endcavor terminates upon our
selves-upon our own comfort, our own
advancement, our owr qualification, in
word, living in such way that we
reverse tho teaching of Christ as If He
had said: "Whosoever will be great
among you shall make others minister
to himself; and whosoever of you will
be the chiefest shall be served by ALL"
That is the fundamental idea Of the
false aristocracy. That expresses the
idea of the man who says: "The world
owes me living. and intend to have
it," and then proceeds to get out of the
world by shook or by crook" all that
he can for himself. Such spirit may
organize and drive forward great indus
trial and commercial enterprises, and
out Of these enterprises there may come
an incidental good to Others, for Provi-
dence often thus outwits and contra
venes the keenest seltishness; or such
spirit may fix itself like lecch on the
enterprise of other men, and legally, or
illegally, rob them of some of the fruits
of their labor. We hear sometimes of
people who live by their wits. In ma
terial way. they often get large divi-
dends from. very small investment.
But such are parasites on society, who
fail to make any reasonable justification
Of their right to live. To such may be
applied the stern, prophetic words: "As
q partridge which hatcheth where it
hath not laid, SO is he that getteth
riches, and not by right; they shall for
sake him in the midst of his days, and
at his end he shall be fool" SPRING
ing out of the true idea of aristocracy,
viz: that it is the rule of the best, that
goodness Is the only true power, and
that rulership is but eminence in SER
vice-are several practical thoughts
which will now give in order.
The true aristocrat Is the man who is
not ashamed Of work. BY many toll is
deemed essentially ignoble. We are
created for action and achievement.
Brain and hands find the world work
shop. All nature is store of materi-
ais. He who, being able, has not
learned to do some useful thing has not
learned how to live. There have al
ways been those who claimed the right
to subsist on tho labor Of others. That
claim has been q prime article in the
creed Of titled nobilities. 1t underlay
the pretensiens and the practices Of
slavery. It is the mark of despotism
in government Its source is not the
circumstances of particular age or of
. particular civilization, but human sell
fishness. 1t is simply the demand for
self-servico, ut whatever expense to
others, that nature perverted by sin
always eiaakes. Often selfshness be-
gets idleness. and idleness is wicked as
we'll as ignoble. It is practical de-
nial of the Divine obligation which is
upon every man to do. Christianity
declares the duty and the nobility Of
labor. It Is noble to be factor in the
great beneficent enterprises of the
world. It is noble to be toiler, how
ever humble the toll may be, if it be
honest. Sometimes stand in the
street in the evening and watch the
troops Of workmen returning home
from factories and mills after the days
work Is done. Their clothes are often
coarse and soiled. their hands and faces
are begrimed with smoke and dirt, but
in their solid, patient industry l see q
higher patent of nobility than any that
the haughtiest Count or Lord, who
lounges his life away in the salons of
Paris or London, can boast. There is
far more manliness in the brawny hand
that comes grimed and SCARED from
masterful toll in the iron mills. than in
the bejeweled and immaculate fingers
Of the perfumed exquisite who through
the fortune of inheritance, perhaps, is
not compelled to work for his bread;
and win not work for any thing else.
The dignity Of labor does not belong
specially to manual labor. It belongs
TO all honest work. whether of brain or
hand. But 1t is manual labor of which
men are moro often ashamed, and
which they more readily despise. Be
workers. then. Make your lives stand
for something done. Neither Heaven
nor earth has any place for the drone.
No glamor Of wealth, or of social pres
tige, can hide his essential littleness. 1t
10 better to carry hod or WELD shovel
in honest endeavor to be Of some use
to humanity. than to I've nursed in luxu-
~. and be q parasite, a do-nothing.
He Ia the true aristocrat who seeks to
do some work that is worth doing, not
for Its wages merely, but because 1t To-
Inherently beneficent; and so does his
work with real consecration.
Many workers, II they were asked
what they are working for. would
eoughtlcssly answer: "For bread. for
tAA suppesssf those dependent % ~